Fagerstedt has answered a few questions about this huge global company which he represents and about its establishment in Göteborg.    
 
Some facts about Huawei? Products? Biggest markets etc?
 
This Chinese company established in 1988 in China. It has been growing rapidly ever since. Today Huawei has 87 000 employees globally. The entry to the Swedish Market, in Kista Stockholm, was about 9 years ago in the year of 2000. Last year Huawei had an order revenue of SEK 200 billion.

Various products are developed and produced by Huawei:
telecom suppliers, cellular systems, wireland exchanges, routers, infrastructure devices, among other. For the competition in cellular systems Huawei considers Ericsson to be the main competitor. When it comes to routers, then Cisco Systems is considered as the main competitor. Recently, Huawei also started producing and selling cellular phones.

Huawei is present in several markets all over the world. The first important market is China, however, the exports stand for 75 %. Latin America is a market where the company is highly present and where there are great potential for Huawei to expand their activities. Not to mention, Africa and Asia Pacific. Furthermore, Huawei sees Europe as an important market including Scandinavia.    
 
What is unique regarding your business?
 
The actual rapid expansion of Huawei's activities is considered as unique.
Furthermore, it is a private company owned, to the larger part, by its employees. 
 
What size is your set-up?
 
In Kista where Huawei first started, there were 70 employees and today they are 180 people working there so the expansion has been large. One third is local consultants, one third is local employees and one third is expatriates from China. This creates cultural challenges of course since the Chinese are obviously more comfortable in mandarin than in English. Also, the Chinese expatriates are a bit older than the average age in the company (28 years!) which makes them not as strong in English as the younger generation today. And there are also other underlying challenges; however, it is a dynamic company to work in.    
 
In Göteborg, the set-up will start off with about 30 employees in the start-up phase. The office in Gårda is suitable for 50 people which gives the opportunity to grow in the same facility.

Göteborg attracted the company much due to its competence and strong ICT cluster — a strong centre for electronic design. Fagerstedt also tells that Huawei is in urgent need of senior staff with 10 + years of work experience and expertise. It is also important with staff that has great communication skills. Many employees today are fresh graduates and makes the average age at the company rather low — 28.

Huawei wish to be the company that attracts skilled telecom people. Today they use a local headhunter to explore this issue with competence and skilled personnel. Fagerstedt states that it is certain that there are excellent skilled people available in the area of telecom and in particular within the microwave design, for example, and Göteborg is among the strongest in the world in this area.      
 
What organisations helped you and with what? How was the establishment process in Göteborg?
 
Huawei got in touch with BRG through Invest in Sweden Agency and since then the contact has been good. Initially, Huawei got a presentation of Göteborg Region and suggestions on appropriate sites to locate the company. Huawei believed they received a good overview of the region and also got the chance to look around in the region for offices and facilities for its activities. Today, Huawei are feeling very content with their new premise in Gårda, Göteborg.
 
Any advice for other companies establishing here?
 
Huawei recommends that companies initially should contact local authorities and organisations.